Here in Indianapolis, Indiana the 24 hour news channels are still filled with reports, advice, discussions, interactive maps, questions and not to many answers about the swine flu. And a quick skirt around international news websites shows it’s still the top story in much of the developed world. But is it all overreaction? When a plane crew refuses to board a plane headed to Mexico, and Russia bans meat imported from America because of flu fears, does it show that in countries where we generally have life pretty good, that we overreact when things go slightly not according to plan?

I’m writing this from Indiana because Ros was sent back home after being in Mexico because we decided it wouldn’t be fair to try and speak to all the people you need to when making radio programmes if he had just been in the epicentre of the virus. Was that an overreaction? Given that in countries like America and the UK people infected with swine flu have almost all been treated successfully with drugs, and the only people who have died are young children is putting people in quarantine unnecessary?

People living in poor countries deal with outbreaks of infectious and non-infectious disease all the the time, calmly and sensibly. TB is endemic in much of Africa and a potentially more dangerous illness than swine flu, but you don’t see people walking around the streets of Lagos or Kampala with masks on their faces.

Do we need to get a grip? Or is the reaction appropriate for what is still an unknown quantity?

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54 Responses to “On air: Does swine flu show the rich world can’t handle a crisis?”

People are taking sensible precautions based on the PERCEIVED threat of swine flu. Because the media coverage is so overwhelming, people perceive the threat to be much greater than it actually is and so their precautions seem over the top. The comparison with TB coverage / threat is a good one.

On the contrary…this is showing that we *can* handle a crisis. Word has spread quickly that a dangerous virus is going around, and people are taking appropriate precautions. If it looks like anybody is overreacting, that’s only because we don’t yet know what this virus is capable of.

Do poor countries deal with it calmly and sensibly, or do they not deal with it? I don’t really know; but I have heard lots of reports over the years of nonacceptance, nonaction, or flat out denial of disease in poor countries. I don’t know that it’s fair to say rich countries can’t handle it. I am more concerned and upset for the people in Egypt who are being ordered to slaughter their entire livelihood and a way to keep their neighborhoods clean. Does slaughtering an entire nation’s pigs sound like a calm way to deal?

By the same token, I think a great majority of America is certifiably freaking out. My own mother called me four times yesterday, usually breathless and telling me that all the face masks were sold out.

I would rather see people wearing face masks on a regular basis for colds and regular flu, like they do more often in Asia. As for the media, they are as usual taking whatever is most likely to produce fear over the more serious issues, like Bush officials being investigated by Spain and the US for torture and the general economic woes of the world.

Is it a crisis or some of the the rich world’s media’s obsession with “if it bleeds, it leads”? Scaremongering on a grand scale. Look at SARS and bird flu – much ado about nothing, as it turned out. We are coming into the summer months so swine flu should not be as large a threat as is being portrayed. Come the fall and winter, that might be a different story. As individual’s, we are responsible to seek out the facts. The BBc’s coverage is a good place to start.

We should look at Africa, for example. You do not see this panic over TB, Malaria or other types of outbreaks that occur.

Speaking as one who loves all humanity, I’m fairly dismayed by the “and [if] the only people who have died are young children is putting people in quarantine unnecessary?” question. That having been said, people were quarantined precisely because of ignorance concerning the nature of this illness.
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Hi WHYSers!
The question of an ‘over-reaction’ sounds like there is a desired response for crises like Swine Flu which has not yet been adopted. I am not sure if that is true, or plausible, especially where the media are known to bring out all their resources to ‘cover all the angles’, etc for such stories. Additionally, the responses of certain cultures/ societies to particular diseases like TB, in the case you point out above, is not really comparable in that Nigerians/ Africans have had a long(er) time living with and therefore, forming appropriate (?) responses to this diseases based on historical precedents, etc. It seems that both the newness, as well as potential impacts of Swine Flu, following on the heels of a Global Financial Meltdown and before that Bird Flu warrant the kinds of concern now being displayed, notwithstanding that the deaths are mostly in Mexico.

I don’t believe the developed world is overreacting to the Swine Flu threat, and I don’t believe one can equate how non-developed countries deal with diseases like TB or malaria with the current threat.

We know how these long-established diseases spread, we know their virulence, and we have treatments and methods of prevention. Even with AIDS, which has only been known for about three decades, we understand treatment and prevention (even if Jacob Zuma believes taking a shower after having unprotected sex is an acceptable method of prevention.)

Fear of the unknown is what’s causing irrational acts like slaughtering pigs or banning the import of pork. We in the west are used to acting, not sitting back and relying on the will of god. When we don’t know what to do, many of us will do unreasonable things just to try to remain n control.

I don’t think most of the people in developed countries are panicking. I think most of us are just covering our mouths when we cough or sneeze, are washing our hands often, are avoiding crowded, enclosed places, and are calling our doctors if we present with flu-like symptoms.

It is the media that is creatic a panic and that bodes ill for us all. It speaks well for Obama to have stepped up to tamp down panic but shame on Joe Biden for buying into and spreading the panic.
People…this is the Flu. Proper hygeine, sleep, good food, keeping well hydrated, cover coughs and sneezes and if you do get sick, stay home.

Ban Pork!
TEHRAN – We are terrified for the lives of our children. Should they eat out?
What is the danger for the Middle East, Asia and Africa?
Should we restrict restaurant service and public gatherings like Mexico?
Why has Mexico remained silent so long on the spread of swine fever?

I think Luz Ma hit the nail on the head. Ground Zero for this health crisis is Mexico where, as she said, around 30 million people do not have access to modern health care. I wonder if Mexico has the resources or facilities to deal with a large scale epidemic. They haven’t even been able to confirm the origin of the outbreak. As far as I understand, except for an infant who traveled with it’s parents from the US to Mexico and contracted the virus, dying after returning to the US, no one outside of Mexico has died from this. This seems to suggest that the level of general health and availability of modern health care for the majority of the population is the major cause of the deaths in Mexico.

I think the WHYS team show us the perfect protocols by quarantining themselves to see if symptoms develop before joining the general population. At the very least, travelers coming from Mexico should be screened for symptoms by health officials, documented so possible outbreaks can be traced, and seriously pressed to voluntarily quarantine themselves in their own homes for the short time it takes to be certain that no symptoms develop. It seems like the best way to avoid world wide contamination.

I don’t think precautions like self quarantine and/or wearing masks if you have unknown symptoms that might be swine flu are over reactions. And this is an excellent opportunity to remind the public about properly washing hands, and the usual covering your mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing. Awareness is a very necessary precaution and is not an overreaction. Banning pork is.

What it really shows is our ability to turn a small issue into a crisis. Swine flu isn’t a great threat except to those who are infirm, elderly, or living in poverty. For most people, some Nyquil and a couple days of rest will take care of it. I’m not worried. Why should I be?

I think that media has created hype as far this issue is concerned. The western world is equipped with everything to deal with this issue, This pandemic is a kind of test case for human being and hopefully this world would deal with it successfully. I am really positive and no one should spread panic.

I think the real question should be about the reaction of the news media. It is ridiculous how much coverage there is. I would bet that more people died this past flu season of the regular flu than have of this H1N1. Does anyone report that number?

To say we don’t know how this flu will spread/behave is no excuse to cause panic. What everyone is suggesting we do, such as washing hands often, we always should be doing to protect ourselves from all sorts of germs during flu season.

The people are not overreacting, the media is sensationalizing every little detail. Media please keep your calm.

@ Luz,
I was impressed on how calm the Mexican people are handling this during the WHYS show earlier this week. The only thing that is concerning to me is that if this becomes a wide spread there are not enough vaccines to protect everyone. One guess as to which part of the populations will not get vaccinated. It seem all the WHO experts are in Mexico and cannot pinpoint the origin. That is troublesome.

The “rich world” populations tend to be mostly assembled into large cities with very close human physical closeness and that is exactly what makes them vulnerable to the way this H1N1 flu is transmitted. I think it is appropriate to be very wary.

washing hands is a nice idea and is easy to do, as is not shaking hands. but, since a sneeze can travel at 100 mph and can go up to 100-150 feet (depending on humidity) so hand washing is not a prevent all.

What it’s showing is the ability of the 24/7 news cycle to spin this into a crisis. As Jon Stewart on The Daily Show pointed out on Monday night, the reason people are freaking out is the media. What is also amazing is the speed at which officials are willing to shut down schools. A student gets sick and officials shut the school down. Kids get the flu every year and they don’t close the schools then. It also begs the question, if, in a normal flu season, a student contracts the flu, will they close the schools then? If officials are willing to do it now, they should do it always. That seems to be where the logic goes.

When people ask if we are panicking, I point to this and say yes, we are.

This could be a major disaster for the US. If it spreads, our healthcare system (I hate to call it that) that leaves 55 million people unprotected by health insurance, will be severely tested. There is no doubt that it will fail. A study by the Kaiser Foundation discovered that over 18,000 people die in the US every year because of having inadequate or no health insurance. Perhaps a disaster will force a change in the system.

As to the “swine” part; looking back into history, the Jewish and Islamic religious restrictions against pigs as unclean were instituted because pigs were often infected with the trichinosis worms and uncorked pork could transfer the eggs into and infect humans. But now pigs can be vaccinated against it and we know enough to make sure that pork is well cooked. Judaism and Islam ought to bring their religions up to date about pork because pork is a very good source of protein.

I see the Egyptian edict to slaughter all of their pigs as an attack against their Coptic Christians.

In times like these some people will take the opportunity as justification and cover to attack their opponents.

And some people will use the opportunity to keep their adherents well fear-mongered, Fox News being a prime example.

And no, I don’t think it is an over-reaction. I think the media are especially skittish, particularly in these very trying times. However, Gail in Oregon’s point is especially useful here. We should always be doing these things, anyway – washing hands, regularly, etc. So, when we know more about how the disease is spread and what else can be done to lessen its impact that too should be broadcast with the requisite responsibility and professionalism that is taken in covering other stories.

Hi, We are Dr. Rosemarie & Curtis Campbell in Jamaica and the Caribbean.

The rich country’s reaction is good resulting in fewer deaths of their population’s citizens. Developing countries inability causes the levels of inaction on their part resulting in massive fallout for their citizens.

We feel the rich should work to help the creation of a worldwide balance that helps all the world’s citizens. Hopefully soon we’ll all get to similar responses as science informs all our customs removing the misinformation.

It is Africa which cannot handle health crises! Hence them begging the rest of the world for help. If post-colonial Africa – which should be a very wealthy continent – spent less time and resources butchering its own citizens and diverting foreign aid to corrupt officials, and more time looking after themselves, they would not have the cheek to laugh at the safety precautions of others whilst holding out their hands for their money.
Remember, 18 million died of flu (which is highly contagious world-wide) in 1918.

I am listening to Ros speaking about his experiences and I am aghast at the reactions! I wonder if people are just getting more ignorant and stupid! The media hype about this swine flu is almost over the top also. Are we now devoid of common sense, as the washing of hands has also been slipping for years. For thousands of people die from common flu every year! Why don’t we just dig a hole and crawl into it!

Oh Ross how naive of course the media want the “money shot”,just as you only want interesting or relevent callers(please more cynicism).

This is a pandemic for the old,infants,weak(Immunolically compromised) and malnourished.The Spanish flu a hundred years killed so many because peoples health and nutriron was poorer.

The native peoples of the Americas have had problems of dealing with foreign diseases (when the europeans turned up)and Europeans had difficulty in dealing with Asian diseases when they lived in Asia as colonial rulers.

I think what this shows is that the media in developed countries will latch onto anything that they can use to generate ratings with and they know what generates the biggest ratings is fear. The media (especially the BBC), has been shamelessly fanning the flames of this fear without abandon. I usually enjoy listening to this program but am very disappointed that anyone felt this flue frenzy merited a solid weeks worth of coverage. This is nothing but outright fear mongering in the name of precious ratings.

I live in Portland Oregon. The only people who are panicking are the mainstream news media and the ignorant people who take them seriously. No one I know is acting any differently. It’s too bad that the only thing the world sees of us is the hyped up media coverage.

@ Tom D Ford
It isn’t Fox news that is fearmongering it is CNN, NBC, CBS, MSNBC and all the liberal media outlets. Fox may be the only one not fear mongering like the liberal outlets.
It’s OK Tom…the truth hurts.

In the 80’s I was working as a flight attendant for a major international airline. This flu epidemic is nothing compared to the fear and uncertainty that we experienced with HIV and AIDS. Many months, even years, passed before we understood that disease and how it was transmitted. This flu issue is a media fear ploy to keep us unfocused on really big issues.

It’s a simple risk management calculation. One has to identify the risks and qualitatively assess their likelihood and severity. If I don’t shake your hand or sit next to you on the sofa, I have a 100% likelihood of generating awkward feelings. If I do interact in such ways with you, I have a very small probability of carrying the swine flu home and watching my two-year old get sick and die next week. While I don’t want to hurt your feelings or appear frightened, those concerns would seem quite petty if something terrible like that came to pass. What is really the harm in being politely shunned for a week after you’ve come home from covering the beginnings of a possible flu pandemic?

LOL–first, she proved your point WHYS, someone of “rich world can’t handle a crisis”.

I am also a New Yorker who follows the appropriate measures and continue about my normal life. I am about to meet some clients for lunch and I will not only be eating out and will also shake their hands. Then, I will wash my hands as advised.

Reading most of the comments above, the viewpoint that taking precautions against the spread of swine flu equates to panic is often supported by referencing the fact that people get flu every year without shutting everything down. This argument missed the point that this is a new and unpredictable version of the virus. Rest assured that contracting the Spanish Influenza was not the equivalent of getting the sniffles for a few days. Just because you’re familiar and comfortable with the word “flu” does not mean significant danger does not exist.

Thank you to all those who are optimistic and continue to give messages of inspiration during this crisis. Its not time for hubris. Tragedy is tragedy everywhere and what that means at present is that even our beloved hogs have not been spared.
Ignorance abounds everywhere even as we say that the world is out of dark ages. There are places without water; we know that but we are not sure whether you can ward off flue with clean hands and avoiding handshakes.
Deaths? Even in the most tragic areas of the world people continue to inspire each other and in the end their will to survive prevails.
As humans we should look for solutions instead of thinking we are better off. Let the press preach hope because they are in a better position to provide the right answers; after all these days reporters spend most of their time on their desktops which are linked to reach data banks.
Developed world?
What have they been developing of late? Economic crises?, shutting production lines? Read the news and watch the net. We are not whining and we are not feeling less human. Compared to where we are in terms of knowledge and technological advances what is happening in Mexico is just a trifle. It will fizzle away.

Doctors in Mexico told your colleague not to shake hands, yet he ignored their advise and did so anyway. I am thankful that the BBC didn’t have him come here. If intelligent adults cannot follow basic precautions, then perhaps we should be MORE careful than is needed. We should measure our reaction somewhere in between irrational overreaction and willful disregard of the threat.

This is a tough call. What makes it so hard to contain the flu is that it is most contagious during the last 24 hours before you show symptoms! When you know you have it, the worst damage has already been done. Transportation and human interaction is the key factor to spreading it, therefore cities are the most vulnerable. So it is harder to handle and most cities are considered ‘rich’.

Also, please ask your personal doctors on this, the human immune system needs proper exercise to stay healthy. So you can overload and under work your immune system. Inoculations are a short cut to this. So all this talk of proper personal hygiene is mostly overkill. There is a point of diminishing returns.

Malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes, therefore face masks won’t help. To eradicate malaria, you have to dry out areas of stagnant water. That is what western countries did, years ago. That is what developing countries also need to do.

Transmission mechanisms for this flu are still uncertain, so wearing face masks might be a viable defense. Meantime, people are hard at work trying to figure this out. Surely, washing hands often is a good idea. Even if there were no flu outbreak.

While there is no doubt that the media are making a tremendous fuss over this, I don’t see people in the street overreacting at all. Only the press are being dramatic, as usual.

But I do not buy the argument that developing world countries make less of a fuss, and are therefore better equipped to handle diseases. In fact, developing countries have a habit of doing nothing, and then complaining when the west doesn’t give them handouts. Let’s not forget how, just to name two examples, the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe and the AIDS epidemic in South Africa were long denied, by their respective governments. Is this what we mean by handling a crisis better? Then we have to hear the nonsensical claims that “certain people matter more than others.” The truth is, people and their governments need to learn to be responsible for themselves FIRST.

Influenza can survive on lots of surfaces for varying lengths of time — on hands, the time limit is about 15 minutes. And there are practically no studies which have measured how often people catch flu by touching their contaminated hand to their eyes, nose, or mouth.

But hand to face transmission is strongly believed to be a very small route of flu transmission, compared with droplet transmission.

What is really scary: All the supposedly honest and expert officials telling us that “the best way we can protect ourselves from the flu is to wash your hands often, and cough into your sleeve.” If that is indeed the BEST way, we’re in big trouble.

While the economy is important, there is no question that health is more important. However, shutting down the economy is not the best option, certainly not now. The instinct for survival in humans is strong enough, so people will, of their own free will, avoid crowds and contact with others when they sense sufficient danger.

I think the Mexican Government is struggling to free itself from subsequent accusations of incompetence and negligence, should the situation get out of hand. But it is a little too late for containment. They should rather start thinking of treatment. However, I laud their courageous reaction in the face of the current financial crisis.

I hope the Cameroon government would be able to react likewise, should the need arise.

If this flu didn’t originate from pigs, why is it still called swine? If this isn’t a global pandemic, why does the MSM treat the number of cases like it is? At times it’s almost like “Death Watch.”

And, several “experts” have said that a mask doesn’t offer you protection. Yet, NO ONE has given a definitive answer for this. Yes, the economy is lousy and drug stores will make a fortune from this. But, there’s still too much confusion which the MSM isn’t investigating.